


The Betrayals That Hurt The Most Start The Smallest

by afinch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:56:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinch/pseuds/afinch
Summary: Hermione tries desperately to hold on to herself.





	The Betrayals That Hurt The Most Start The Smallest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lobelia_Kurgan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobelia_Kurgan/gifts).



Fleeing Malfoy Manor was a matter of literal life and death. When it became clear she was holding Harry and the others back, she yelled at Harry, "Take them and go! Remember what needs to be done!" Then Harry was leaving, gripping Ron's wrist even as Ron twisted to get to Hermione, with Griphook and Dobby. Bellatrix threw her wand and it clearly hit someone - or something as it disappeared with them. 

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Bellatrix cackled loudly.

"He is coming!" hissed Lucius. "All we have is a mudblood!"

"We have _the_ mudblood," Bellatrix purred, pulling Hermione by the hair from the wreckage of the chandelier. "Let me properly secure her." 

Hermione couldn't resist as she was half-dragged down the hall, up a flight of stairs, and into a small antechamber. The room only contained a chain running into the wall on one end. The other contained-

"No, please no," Hermione begged as she was thrown to the ground. She turned over and began desperately to crawl for the door, but Bellatrix only laughed. In two quick movements she secured the chain collar around Hermione's neck.

"My Master calls to me," Bellatrix hissed, shoving Hermione's head into the ground. "Pray he lets me keep you."

She slammed the door shut, plunging the room into near pitch blackness. It was true there were no windows, but Hermione gave her eyes a few moments to adjust to the light coming from the opposite door. If the antechamber was nothing more than a chain, what was behind the door? Hermione didn't want to find out. Now that she was alone, she took stock of her injuries. She'd been tortured into unconsciousness, and the chandelier had given her a few injuries. Physically, she wasn't terribly wounded.

"Stay calm," Hermione told herself. "Harry will know he can't rescue you. Best bet is to stay alive."

The screams from downstairs shook Hermione. From here, she could feel the wrath of Voldemort. He could read her mind and she wouldn't be able to stop him. The terror of the idea filled her and she began to cry desperately. She found herself following Bellatrix's advice and praying he wouldn't come for her.

"Please don't let him come, please don't let him come, please don't let him come," she whispered over and over again.

The silence that followed was deafening. 

Hermione stood, cautiously. The chain wasn't going to be breakable, but maybe she could see what was in the room beyond. It was no use, the chain was too short. She could manage a few steps and that was all.

"Think, think, think," Hermione hissed. 

Voldemort would be walking through the door at any moment and he would invade her mind and take everything. She didn't have a way to fight against that; she hadn't practiced like Harry had. For some reason, the thought that she would ever be taken _alive_ by Voldemort or his supporters hadn't ever seemed like a definitive possibility. 

Until right now. 

She heard footsteps approaching, and in desperation, pulled harshly against the chain.

The door flung open and there stood Bellatrix.

She was grinning madly and holding Hermione's wand in her hand. When she spoke, her voice was low and sweet, almost like a purr, "I get to keep you."

*

The first command was 'kneel'. Hermione stood firmly, gripping the chain that held her to the wall. 

"Never," she spat at Bellatrix. "You're a foul, loathsome woman, and I will never bow to you."

Bellatrix twirled her - Hermione's - wand. "I could make you, you know. You might have stolen this wand, but wands don't honor thieves. All the magic you can read in a book and it matters nothing if you don't have this."

She waved the wand at Hermione, as if enticing her to try to grab it. Hermione kept her hands on the chain. This was an easy game. Bellatrix wanted to taunt her. Hermione could resist this. 

"But imperio on Muggles and thieves is so _boring_ ," Bellatrix continued. "Your weak little minds can't resist. We know from Crouch only Potter could throw it off. I'd have you licking my -" she broke off and giggled. "I could make you do anything."

"I'll never tell you anything," Hermione snapped back.

"No?" Bellatrix asked, coming to stand near Hermione. In one move, she grabbed Hermione by the hair with one hand and jabbed the wand into the rib with her other. "Kneel," Bellatrix hissed, followed by a barely murmured, "crucio."

The pain was excruciating, and Hermione fell, screaming, to her knees, then all fours.

"Good pet!" Bellatrix crowed. Behind Hermione, she waved the wand at the chain and it shortened, moving down the wall as it did so. "Stay," Bellatrix said, her voice dripping with sweetness.

In defiance, Hermione tried to stand, but the chain prevented her from moving her head more than a few inches. She writhed in frustration for a few moments, finally coming to a stop in the same postion Bellatrix had left her in, her breath short and raspy. 

"Good pet," Bellatrix said again. "I think you deserve a little reward, don't you? Nihala!"

Hermione wasn't going to give Bellatrix the satisfaction of a response. She was going to take deep breaths, and think calmly about how to survive. Voldemort wasn't coming to pry the secrets out of her head. Bellatrix wanted to play mind games. Witch against witch. Crazy psychotic witch against the cleverest witch of her age. This was a game Hermione could win. 

She had been concentrating on her game plan, she hadn't noticed what the elf brought in, but it bowed deeply to Bellatrix, "Does Mistress require anything else?"

"No, go bang your head somewhere until I call you again," Bellatrix said, absently. Hermione let out a short gasp of indignation. 

"It's okay, Muddy, soon you'll beg me to give you a punishment," Bellatrix said. "In the meantime, I have a reward." She flicked the wand and in an instant, Hermione was naked. 

She shrieked, and tried to put her arms around herself, but the short chain and her position made it awkward. She hung her head, arms tight across her chest, struggling to gain the courage to look at Bellatrix in defiance.

Bellatrix didn't need Hermione's submission for this. She waved the wand again and Hermione screamed in pain, clutching at her breasts. 

"I can't put a bell on the collar, so I put them on the next best place," Bellatrix said, her voice cackling with power and triumph. "Let Mistress look."

Two flicks and the chain was longer and Hermione's hands were twined in the chain, above her head. She pulled as hard as she could, but they didn't even budge. Instead, when Bellatrix was close enough, Hermione spat at her.

"You foul bitch," Hermione seethed. "You try, you try all you want, you loathsome thing. I will never-"

"Shush," said Bellatrix sharply. She tugged on one of the weighted bells. "I give you a gift and you decide to be an ungrateful cur? Let's see how you do with 20 overnight."

Hermione didn't have time to protest before Bellatrix did three things. One, she plunged the room into darkness. Two, the weights became so heavy so quickly Hermione was too shocked to speak. Three, she left the room with a bang, heavily locking it shut behind her.

*

In the morning, when Bellatrix entered the room, Hermione looked at her, eyes wide and ravaged. 

"I could hear you screaming all night," Bellatrix said, as though this were a casual conversation among friends. "It sounded painful. I'll take them off if you thank your Mistress for giving you such a nice gift for your good behavior."

It was a game, right? Sometimes in games, you had to take a defeatist move. It was strategy. Lose a round, but win the game. Wasn't Ron always talking to her about chess like that? This was just that. She was giving up a pawn. Pawns were worthless, or just about, right?

She gritted her teeth, "Mistress, thank you for the reward."

Bellatrix laughed, her voice low and deep. She clapped her hands. "Muddy, that was a good first attempt! It was a gift, not a reward, wasn't it? And be sure to tell me how much you appreciate them by telling me you'll accept them forever."

Hermione closed her eyes. It was only a game. 

"Thank you, Mistress, for the gift. I accept them forever."

The relief was instantaneous. A small bell still hung from each nipple, but the pain decreased. Her hands too, were released from their bonds and they fell heavily, to the floor. 

Bellatrix sat across the room, looking curiously at Hermione. Hermione glared back, but she knew her meanest stare was no match for Bellatrix's casually cruel glances. 

"You haven't figured it out, have you? Salazar, Muggles are boring. I thought you were smart. You won't get them off," Bellatrix said. "As you just accepted an unbreakable gift."

In an instant, Hermione realized her error. "No!" she cried, her eyes wide. "You tricked me! It shouldn't count!" How could she have been so stupid? Of course Bellatrix would play with old magic. Hermione had read about it, but with the horcruxes consuming everything, she hadn't been reading for pleasure. It wasn't fair, but Bellatrix was never fair.

Bellatrix laughed, "Oh, pet, the words are the intent, and they count. Little Muddy belongs to me now, Muddy belongs to me! Muddy's mine, Muddy's mine, Muddy's mine!" Bellatrix's voice went up with each word, until she was practically screaming her song. 

Hermione couldn't fight the tears off and they cascaded down her cheeks, to Bellatrix's utter delight. 

"Stupid Muddy the Mudblood," Bellatrix added. "Say it. Say you're Stupid Muddy the Mudblood and Bellatrix is your Mistress."

"No," Hermione said, through her tears. "I am Hermione Gra-"

She was cut off by Bellatrix's well-executed Crucio on her right breast. Bellatrix didn't give her a moment to catch her breath before moving to the left breast, and back and forth until Hermione's eyes rolled back into her head. 

"No passing out!" Bellatrix snarled, leaping across the room to grap Hermione's left breast in her fingers and squeeze tightly. The physical pain jolted Hermione and she rolled her head forward, her eyes barely meeting Bellatrix's. "Tell me," Bellatrix threatened, running the wand under Hermione's throat. "Tell me what you are."

All pretense of games was lost now. Hermione struggled to stay conscious. "Stu …" she started, her voice rasping with effort. "Pid …."

"Nihala," Bellatrix snapped and in an instant, the elf was there with a bowl of cool, clear water. Hermione didn't even offer resistance as Bellatrix grabbed her hair and pushed her face into the water. She gulped it. It was thicker than water and tasted lightly of mint. Hermione was too grateful to try to figure out what Bellatrix had done to the water. She would find out soon enough.

"Tell me what you are," Bellatrix said again, her voice sharp and hard. 

"Stupid," Hermione muttered to the water. "Stupid Muddy the Mudblood."

Bellatrix murmured her approval, "And you stayed kneeling the whole time too, like a good Muddy the Mudblood pet." She leaned low, her lips pressing through Hermione's hair to whisper delicately in her ear, "No trickery there, Stupid. You chose to submit."

This time Hermione was too exhausted to feel any anger over the fact that Bellatrix had won, again. 

*

Humans are amazing creatures. They're adaptable, even in the most horrendous of circumstances. Hermione found herself adapting quickly to her new reality. The thick minty water was the only thing she had to eat or drink, but it nourished her. Bellatrix had upgraded the initial clay bowl to an ornate gold cup that Hermione eagerly gulped out of when it was filled. She answered readily to 'Muddy' when Bellatrix called for her. She was no longer ashamed of her nakedness, or crawling to get around, or even the soft jingles she made as her breasts swayed. 

Bellatrix would take the collar off to parade her around the castle, where any of the guests could have their fair go at her. When that happened, she couldn't tell which way was up anymore. She couldn't tell what reality was. There was screaming, lots of it, and she always thought she heard Ron. Her body was on fire, every vein screaming in agony. 

She wasn't sure what she begged to get the pain to stop. Nonsense, over and over again. They all knew it. Bellatrix seemed to revel in it. 

"I told you!" she'd taunt Lucius when he was in the room, when he was torturing her, when he would give up in disgusted defeat at her useless intel. "I was right about Muddy, I was right about Muddy, I was right about Muddy!" 

Hermione didn't have the energy to contemplate what that meant. It was easier to not think so hard of what Bellatrix's plans were and easier to think of how to keep the pain from coming. They didn't listen to Bellatrix's taunts. They would just hurt her harder. Greyback would nip at her, taunt her, and she'd scream bloody murder for Mistress to make him go away. It was the only thing that did. It was the only way to be safe, when the collar of Bellatrix's snapped back around her neck and she was led into the anteroom to be attached to the wall again. 

It was an odd comfort, but as long as she belonged to Bellatrix, she was safe. The others tortured her, Draco had managed a few weak spells against her, and she'd gamely pretended they'd hurt worse than they had. 

Every so often, when Bellatrix was engaged, or distracted by someone, Greyback would rape her. It was clear he wanted to own her. It was clear he and Bellatrix had petitioned their Lord for her, and Bellatrix had come out ahead. He didn't bite her though. He would only do that on orders. A small comfort when his claw-like hands held her down and he licked her neck tenderly while thrusting inside her as she screamed herself into oblivion. 

When it was just her and Bellatrix, Hermione obeyed quietly. It was easier, so much easier, to have everyone else in the castle be the ones torturing her. Bellatrix would mold her, and she'd attempt to resist, but going along meant there was no pain.

Humans are amazingly adaptable creatures. This was her new normal. 

"Kneel," Bellatrix commanded.

Hermione knelt, head down.

"Crawl," Bellatrix commanded.

Hermione kept her head down and crawled on hands and knees towards towards Bellatrix. The chain allowed her just enough room to reach Bellatrix's feet. 

"Worship," Bellatrix commanded.

Hermione leaned forward and began to lick the shoes of Bellatrix.

"Good pet," murmured Bellatrix, stroking Hermione's hair. 

Hermione knew she shouldn't, but she felt a flutter of warmth in her belly when Bellatrix did this. It meant there was a chance she could stay chained up for the night, instead of paraded around the manor. 

"Muddy, tell me who you love," Bellatrix purred, pulling up on Hermione's hair slightly. 

"You, Mistress," Hermione said, only now meeting Bellatrix's eyes. "I love you, Mistress."

In a weird way, she did. She loved that Bellatrix was keeping her from Voldemort. She loved that Bellatrix kept her alive - as long as she was alive, might she see Harry again some day?

"Good girl," said Bellatrix. "You're such a good girl sometimes. Imagine if you were a good girl all the time. Our Lord would like you to make better progress. He thinks Greyback might do a better job."

Hermione couldn't help the whimper that spilled out of her. She pressed her lips together tightly, trying to stop another one.

Bellatrix laughed. "I didn't think you'd want to go with him." She ran her fingers down Hermione's cheek, down her neck, and circled a finger around her breast. The bell magicked to the nipple jingled ever so gently.

Hermione's chest heaved with emotion. Bellatrix only touched her gently like this sometimes, right before she'd order Hermione to lap at her delicate folds and bring her to orgasm. She had needs. Sometimes Bellatrix would let Hermione rub herself on Bellatrix's shoe, hands behind her neck, professing her love and devotion. Sometimes Bellatrix would do nothing except stroke her breasts gently to hear the jingle of the bells, which she did now.

When Bellatrix spoke, her voice was low, and soft. "Will you be a good pet for Bellatrix? Will you tell your Mistress where we can find the boy who told you you were human? Because you're not, are you?"

Hermione shook her head, her chest still heaving, and repeated Bellatrix, "No, Mistress, I'm not human." Bellatrix kissed her hair, gently. "Good pet. You're such a good girl, Muddy. What is the name of the monster who filled your head with such lies and told you that you were?"

Hermione had told herself, over and over again, that she would have died before betraying Harry. But this wasn't a betrayal of Harry. This was knowing when to give in and when to resist. This was her proving she loved Bellatrix, wholly and completely.

"Harry," Hermione said. "Mistress, the monster is Harry Potter."

"Where is this monster, Muddy? Tell Mistress so I can make it right."

And Hermione opened her mouth to speak.


End file.
